


Ride Me Off Into the Sunrise

by umbralillium



Series: Teen Magic [3]
Category: Practical Magic, Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: First Kiss, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-27
Updated: 2013-08-27
Packaged: 2017-12-24 20:51:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/944518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/umbralillium/pseuds/umbralillium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, being away from someone can bring new clarity to how you feel about them. How much you miss them can surprise you, despite the anger and sarcasm that stretches between you.</p><p>(in which there is a first kiss)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ride Me Off Into the Sunrise

It’s been a long summer and he almost feels more exhausted coming home to Beacon Hills than he had when he left. But it’s a good exhaustion. It’s an exhaustion that tells him he’d worked hard, he’d learned new things, he’d become settled into himself and his power. It had felt a bit like boot camp, those three months with the Owens clan in Massachusetts, learning everything he could in such a short period of time: how to move things with a thought (or a non-thought), how to light a candle with his breath, how _not_ to start a blender (for the record, lids are an A+ idea), how to properly grind herbs into powders for potions and spells, how much better a meal tastes with herbs fresh from the garden.

Yup, Stiles is definitely seeing a makeover for the overgrown garden in his backyard’s near future. He can’t wait to feel the rich earth under his hands again, to feel dirt under his nails, and the pleasant ache of well-used muscles. Okay, so he’s not looking forward to the tight burn of sun-scorched skin, but he knows a potion or two for that, now.

What he’s _really_ looking forward to, though, is seeing his family again: Dad, Scott, Melissa, even Isaac, Erica, and Boyd. And maybe, a little bit more than the beta babes, he’s looking forward to seeing Derek again; seeing the hints of a more settled man he’d glimpsed after the Owenses had arrived and started teasing him out of the shell he’d been hiding in for the scant months Stiles had known him.

The morning after he comes home from Massachusetts, Stiles wakes up earlier than he has all summer. Or is that the same time, considering he’s still on east coast time? Eh, whatever, the sun’s just peeking over the trees of the Preserve; it’d be early by _anyone_ ’s standards. He can hear Dad snoring through the wall as he throws on some clothes, shoves his feet into his flip-flops and heads downstairs. A quick stop by the pantry for a packet of Pop Tarts and he’s out the door, whistling quietly as he slips into the Jeep and takes off towards the forest.

He drives to Hale House almost on autopilot, just enjoying the cool morning air through the open window, ruffling his hair; the scent of pine strengthening the closer he gets, an undercurrent of burnt wood underscoring it; the flash of the sun through the branches, dappling the road.

He pulls to a stop outside the burnt out house, surprised to find it half torn down. He’d heard that Derek was working on taking it down, but he’d thought, you know, cranes, bulldozers, maybe a wrecking ball. Not the sledgehammer that, oh look, Derek’s holding right now. Stiles waves before opening the door and climbing out, foot sliding a little on the dead leaves littering the ground.

“What are you doing here?” Derek asks, watching Stiles’s approach.

“I heard you were tearing the place down,” Stiles answers. “I was kinda hoping for some heavy equipment to play with.”

Derek quirks an eyebrow. “Too noisy.”

“Right, yeah,” Stiles agrees, shooting Derek a thumbs-up. They stare at each other for a moment before Stiles holds up the Pop Tarts. “Breakfast? They’re chocolate.”

“Fudge or chip?” Derek asks as he turns to lean the sledgehammer against the porch rail.

“Chip,” Stiles replies, sitting down on the top step of the porch. He fights down a twitch when Derek sits down next to him. “A couple birdies might have told me that your sweet tooth doesn’t always extend to the food of the gods.”

Derek rolls his eyes and holds a hand out. “How was the island?”

“Oh, man, that place is _awesome_ ,” Stiles opines. “Did you know there’s a secret passage from the parlor to the kitchen?”

Derek hums an affirmative, nodding. “Lilah’s favorite place for—“

“Hide and go seek,” Stiles finishes, grinning.

“You, too?” Derek asks with a hint of a smile.

“I defy _anyone_ not to give into that girl’s puppy eyes.” A soft laugh stirs the air and Stiles blinks in surprise, shooting Derek a glance out of the corner of his eye.

“The last time Laura played with her, Lilah went up onto the Widow’s Walk and then couldn’t come down, because she was scared of how far up she was,” Derek says quietly and Stiles looks at him fully to see him smiling fondly, gaze a little distant and sad.

“I’m sorry,” Stiles says, voice soft in the still morning.

“For what?”

“Everything?” Stiles replies. “For digging up Laura, for getting you arrested, for not setting my dad straight when Scott—“

“Hey,” Derek interrupts. “We’ve both made mistakes. There’s nothing you need to apologize for.”

Stiles stares at him for a long moment. Long enough that Derek’s eyebrows lift in inquiry. “Nothing, just. Are you sure you’re Derek Hale? Broody McBroodpants extraordinaire?”

Derek laughs, ducking his head. Holy God, Stiles could wax poetic about how Derek looks just then, but mostly, he just really wants to kiss him. So he does. He puts one hand on Derek’s knee, catching his attention so that he turns his head to towards Stiles and Stiles leans in for a soft, chaste kiss.

Except, Derek isn’t returning the kiss. He’s just sitting there, as still as a statue and Stiles pulls back, face flaming with embarrassment. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have… I’m… just going to go. Now.”

“Stiles.”

“Good luck with the house.” He pushes to his feet and stumbles down the steps.

“Stiles.”

“I’ll see you—“

“ _Stiles_!”

He skids to a stop and stares down at his feet, frowning at the fragment of a leaf that’s caught between his toes. A hand comes down on his shoulder and he jerks away. “It’s okay, you don’t have to let me down easy, I get it. I’m just—“

“You’re not _just_ anything, Stiles,” Derek interrupts, moving around so that he’s in front of Stiles. “You’re smart and strong and brave and you deserve so much bet—“

It’s Stiles’s turn to interrupt. “Hey, no. You don’t get to pick what I deserve,” he insists. “The aunts trust you, they let you live with them for six years, I’d say you’re good enough for anyone, least of all me.”

Derek looks away, eyes roaming over the forest for several seconds before he speaks, “You realize your dad and Gillian are going to gut me when they find out?”

“Nah,” Stiles scoffs, waving a dismissive hand. “Maim? Probably. Gut? Too messy.”

Huffing a laugh, Derek hooks a hand around the back of Stiles’s neck and pulls him in. “Nice to know you’re so concerned about me.”

“That’s me,” Stiles quips, grinning. “Concerned boyfriend.”

Derek just shakes his head and kisses him, still smiling.

**Author's Note:**

> As ever, many many thanks to IceBlueRose. Hope this satisfied the Sterek people that were a little disappointed by the small amount of preslash in If You Ever Did Believe. :D Title is a riff off of a lyric from This Kiss by Faith Hill: Ride me off into the sunset


End file.
